Gerri killed the engine on her bass boat and glided into a cove sighing with contentment. Looking around at the morning mist rising from the lake she couldn't think of anywhere she would rather be or anything else she would rather be doing. As the boat slowed to a near stop she rose from the helm and slid into her bass seat taking up her rod and engaging the foot controlled trolling motor.
Popping her ear buds into her ears and starting her fishing play list she checked to make sure the hooks on her tiny torpedo plug were sharp and undamaged then flipped it out near an old, half submerged tree stump. It landed with a splash just as her favorite top water fishing song by the Doobie Brothers sprang to life in her ears.
Twitch twitch... twitch twitch... twitch-ta- twitch-ta- twitch... ta-twitch twitch, and the water exploded around her plug. A young bass leaped from the water, plug clenched in its wide jaws and danced across the surface on its tail. The fight was exhilarating though brief and she released him with a kiss on the snout and the admonition to "go back, grow up and tell Grandpa that I've been picking on you!"
Several hours and many such small battles later Gerri decided that she couldn't ignore the grumbling in her belly much longer, besides, it was getting hot. Visions of the double cheese burger and cold brew that she knew would be waiting at the marina grill and pub made her mouth water. Just one more cove and she would head in for the afternoon. Food, rest, a little work and she would be back to it when the evening brought cool breezes and hungry bass.
As she began fishing that last cove she realized she was not alone. Her second favorite thing about summer was the outstanding views found on the shores of the lake. On a pier sticking out behind one of the cabins arrayed around the cove was a blonde in a bikini stretched out and sunning in a reclining deck chair. Not wanting to disturb the beauty, she fished up near the pier then cruised around it with the trolling motor, glad for the mirrored shades she was wearing.
The fishing had slowed considerably due to the rising heat of the day and it didn't take long to get mostly to the end of the cove. Suddenly Gerri was shocked by the sound of screaming and squealing, it had to be the blonde but she was out of sight around a bend. Gerri fired up the big engine and sped around the bend to see a comical sight. While the blonde stretched out sunning a large black snake had decided to soak up a few rays too and had slithered to a spot on the pier near the bank. The blonde was obviously terrified of snakes and afraid to go near it. She was cut off and doing a screaming snake dance mid pier.
Gerri quickly pulled the boat up to the pier intending to offer rescue. The blonde was so panicked that as soon as the boat was alongside the pier she flat-out leaped at Gerri, who caught her and staggered under the weight and force, nearly going over backwards and finally collapsing onto the live well behind her. Looking down she found herself starring into the brightest green eyes and lushest lips she had ever seen. She just could not resist, she swooped in and captured those lush lips in a searing kiss. The kiss was long, hot and passionate, just as it was coming to an end Gerri's play list cycled and both of them burst into giggles. One of her ear buds had fallen out and both could hear Sam and Dave belt out "Hold on I'm Coming'" as Gerri placed the woman on her feet in the boat.
The blonde looked Gerri up and down and her eyes widened. She hadn't realized until then that Gerri was a woman. Gerri, embarrassed, was quick to apologize. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I don't know what came over me."
"It's alright, though Katy Perry would have been more appropriate accompaniment, I've never been kissed by a woman before and I did like it."
Gerri did the only thing she could think of to end the embarrassment quickly. She grabbed a small bucket out of the boat, scooped it full of lake water and hopped up on the pier. She walked slowly toward the big black snake, stopped when she thought she had a good range and tossed the bucket of water at it. The snake did not like the rude awakening at all and slithered off into some bushes along the bank as fast as it could.
Gerri hopped back in the boat and handed the blonde the bucket with a flourish. "There you go, black snakes are land snakes and don't like cold water. Keep the bucket and next time you get cut off you can send it packing with no trouble at all."
"Thank you, thank you very much, I will remember that!" The blonde climbed back on the pier and it wasn't until Gerri had fired the engine and sped off toward the marina that she realized she hadn't even gotten her name.
*************
Even though Gerri knew that another messy relationship with a questioning straight woman was the last thing she needed, she couldn't resist going back to that same cove fishing every afternoon for a week. No sign of the blonde but the fishing was great there at least. She had to wonder if the blonde had just been visiting someone at the cabin and had since left town. It was over a week later when fate stepped in and unceremoniously dumped them together again.
Gerri was happily fishing along enjoying her latest fishing gear purchase. Someone had finally come up with a life vest that was cooler and more comfortable. This new vest had all the flotation bulk around the lower ribs and gut leaving the upper chest and shoulders encased only in a fine breathable mesh. Which was great, until it happened that Gerri hooked the biggest bass she had ever seen. The huge bass took her plug and stripped off line at an alarming rate. Gerri frantically tightened her drag just as he broke the surface to dance on his tail and spit the plug back at her. The plug hit her in the left breast with an audible slap and two of the three points of the treble hook on it buried themselves in past the barbs.
Gerri quickly pulled out her pocket knife and cut the fishing line free of the plug, rolled the line up to her reel and then surveyed the damage. Two of the three points on the treble hook had went through the mesh of her life vest, through her polo shirt, through her sports bra and buried as deep as they could go into her breast. Normally if she got a hook in her, she gritted her teeth, and used a pair of pliers to push the barb on through the skin and then clip it off enabling easy removal. You ended up with two small holes but that was the easiest thing to do. Unfortunately this time with two points buried so deeply she couldn't do that. Since she knew for a fact that the town doctor and her sometimes fishing partner had left this very morning on vacation it was going to mean a trip to County Hospital.
********
Gerri being the flirt that she was just had to stop at the grocery on the way through town to pick up a dozen donuts and a bouquet of flowers for the ER nurses. In a town this small everyone knew everyone else and in the case of the ER staff, well hell, she had dated a couple of them at one time or another through the years. She was hoping the donuts and flowers would score her a few brownie points and maybe a little special treatment in case she didn't know any of the ones on duty today. Of course Celia Brown the grocery clerk just had to notice the plug hanging off her chest as she stood waiting for her to ring it up and before she knew it she was surrounded by local women. Tales of husbands and sons hooked with this or that lure flew like a cloud of mosquitoes among them, until finally Gerri had to excuse herself saying she wanted to get to the ER before infection set in.
As Gerri walked through the doors of the ER she looked around thankful to find it mostly empty on a weekday afternoon. The first nurse to spot her squealed and ran to her about to wrap her in a big hug only to have Gerri stick her left arm out to stop her and then offer up the donuts and flowers.
"Whoa there Penny! I can't hug you or we may end up permanently joined, but I did bring these to brighten the nurses day."
"Oh my gosh! Honey is that thing sticking where I think it is? Here let me take those to the desk and I'll get you back so the Doc can get a look at that!"
Gerri found herself whisked to a small room with a gurney and told to sit, the Doc would be there in just a minute. She was glad to be sitting on the gurney a few minutes later when none other than the blonde beauty walked through the door and introduced herself as Dr. Hortin. There was a flash of recognition in her eyes and a shy smile and then she was all business.
"Hi, ah, Gerri I see here Penny has pulled your records. Hmm how long since you have had a Tetanus injection?"
"Well, I'm not sure Doc maybe years ago when I was in a car accident if they give them for that."
They were joined by Penny and the other nurse on duty Mary, who both began fussing about as the doctor barked orders at them.
"Mary let's get her shirt and bra cut off and get her hooked up to a monitor. I want to make sure nothing is going on with her blood pressure or heart rate. She may have a reaction to that galvanized metal hook. Penny, I'm going to need a Tetanus injection as well as some Lidocaine and a scalpel and suture kit. Gerri I have a couple of other patients to see and I will be back to get those hooks out."
With that she was out the door leaving Gerri with Penny and Mary to get her ready.
Mary looked over and said "Well we can't just cut the clothes off her. Oh, the vest and shirt would work but if we cut that sports bra the elastic is going to snap back and it's only going to dig the hooks in deeper."
Gerri spoke up. "Have you got a pair of wire cutters? If you do I can cut the hook off the plug and then you can just cut a hole in the fabric around the hook and I should be able to get out of my clothes on my own."
"Good idea sweetie! How are you doing pain wise? Do you need anything for it? I remember just how sensitive those girls are. I know you have to be hurting." Penny said with a wink.
"No, I'm alright for now. I don't like that stuff anyway. I'd have to have a hell of a lot worse to take anything. So how long has the new Doc been in town? I didn't know about her, it has been a while since I have had to come to the ER."
Both Penny and Mary could remember exactly what a traumatic experience Gerri's last ER visit had been and began trying to steer the conversation away from that one as fast as possible.
Penny blurted out "Oh a couple of months. She moved down here from up North when old Doctor Harvey retired."
Mary added "I guess our little ER isn't much compared to the trauma center she used to work in but she seems to like it here."
It took a few minutes but they eventually got her naked to the waist and hooked to a monitor. Penny was just rolling a small tray table up with various instruments on it when the doctor returned.
